Brad Peter

Brad Peter

Graduate Student Brad Peter from GCFSI’s Population Growth, Climate Change and Pressure on the Land team visited Malawi to construct and install a set of weather stations on farmland in the central region of Malawi. Weather stations have been installed at Lilongwe University of Agriculture & Natural Resources (LUANAR), Linthipe, Golomoti, Nsipe, and Bwanje Valley Irrigation Scheme. In addition to construction and installation, training on data collection and station operation was provided for technical staff and faculty at LUANAR. The stations are set to record data continuously at 15-minute intervals and will provide access to data on wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, temperature, relative humidity, dew point, precipitation, photosynthetically active radiation, and soil moisture. The stations will be used primarily for growing season weather data that can be related to satellite imagery to monitor crop health and estimate yields.

Publications:

Peter, B. G., Messina, J., and Snapp, S. 2018. A multi-scalar approach to mapping marginal land: smallholder agriculture in Malawi. Annals of the American Association of Geographers.  https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2017.1403877

Peter, B. G., Messina, J., Frake, A., and Snapp, S. 2017. Scaling agricultural innovations: pigeonpea in Malawi. The Professional Geographer 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2017.1347798

Peter, B. G., Mungai, L., Messina, J., and Snapp, S. 2017. Nature-based agricultural solutions: scaling perennial grains across Africa. Environmental Research 159:283–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.08.011

Contact: bpeter@msu.edu